Mayhem searching for championship-hangover cure

MACON, GA -- The chapter after a President's Cup Championship hasn't continued the fairy tale so far for the Macon Mayhem.

With a large crowd on hand over the weekend celebrating last year's title, the Blue Sweaters stumbled out of the gate falling 4-0 and 5-1 to Pensacola and Huntsville.

"Still a little bit on a championship hangover," Head Coach Kevin Kerr said at Thursday's morning skate. "I think a lot of our guys figured it would be easy. At the end of the day when you have two 16x20 banners hanging in your building that you can see from outer space. I think there's a lot of people gunning for you every night."

Inconsistent play doomed the Mayhem, but Kerr saw flashes of both last year's dominance and future success with newcomers, in particular goaltender Tomas Sholl.

"Shollsies the type of kid, he's very calm in the net," Kerr said. "He's very compact. He doesn't panic in the net. He's very composed kind of like Garrett Bartus was. He's got the same type of stature. The same type of demeanor. He just goes about his business every day."

The rookie didn't get a ton of defensive support in the season-opener against Pensacola, but the team is confident in him moving forward. The high-praise from his head coach only seems to motivate the rookie.

"Goalie is a position of pressure so there's no reason to add any extra," Sholl said. "You just got to go out there and do your own thing. I'm just going to focus on my game and not try to live up to anybody else."

The Mayhem return to action Friday night at home against Roanoke. The puck drop is set for 7:35 p.m.